It seems increasingly likely that Cameron Johnson will remain in Brooklyn beyond the trade deadline, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post, who has consistently heard that the Nets are willing to field calls about the veteran forward but aren’t actively shopping him.
While the Nets moved quickly this season to trade Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith, both of whom can reach unrestricted free agency this summer, Johnson is under contract for two more years beyond this one, so there’s no urgency in Brooklyn to move off of him at this point — especially since the team still projects to have substantial cap room for next season even with Johnson’s $20.5MM salary on the books.
Ian Begley of SNY.tv also reported on Tuesday that a Johnson trade may not happen this week.
We have more trade rumors from around the NBA:
- There’s a chance that KJ Martin, whom the Pistons agreed to acquire from Philadelphia, could be rerouted to another team prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, tweets Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. If Detroit were to acquire Martin using cap space rather than the room exception, his salary could be aggregated with one or more other players in a subsequent deal.
- According to Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Guerschon Yabusele are among the veterans who continue to draw interest for the Sixers, who already traded Caleb Martin in addition to KJ Martin. However, Philadelphia is reluctant to move Yabusele, preferring to find a way to retain him beyond his current one-year, minimum-salary contract, Stein and Fischer say.
- Grant Afseth of RG.org takes a look at the Lakers‘ hunt for another center, suggesting that – despite Rob Pelinka‘s comments downplaying the urgency to find more than a stop-gap – the team is still considering a wide range of possible targets.
- Tony Jones of The Athletic checks in on the Jazz‘s plans ahead of the trade deadline, writing that John Collins and Jordan Clarkson are considered more available than Collin Sexton and especially Walker Kessler. Utah values Sexton and has set a “very high” asking price for Kessler, Jones explains.
I think the Lakers will end up with Vuc. No clue what the trade will look like just seems Luka wasn’t enough and the basketball gods will bring more to LA
I hope not unless it is for pennies on the dollar. He is not a great long-term fit and the past two games have shown the Lakers don’t urgently need a strong big to win. They may as well deploy the ‘score 150 points and don’t rely on defense’ scheme.
Fair enough who do you think they should/could grab? Could Ayton be had? Maybe one of Detroit’s centers? Daniel Theis is on the block, maybe even Jock Landale from the Rockets? Is Mo Bamba still a free agent? Just spitballing names at this point
Damn theis was just traded in a salary drop with a draft pick attached. Scratch his name off
I’d prefer Ayton, Kessler or even Williams at this point. Myles Turner would be great but Pacers won’t give him up.
Grizz should get Cam Johnson…
Not for the 2 FRP’s they are said to be wanting. I’d rather MEM get involved with GS & CHI if they’re trying to swap Wiggins for Vuc. MEM can be a 3rd team that takes Wiggins who would bring someone with playoff experience into the fold and better defensively than Johnson imo. Johnson shoots it well, but think they need someone cheaper than 2 FRPs and more well rounded.
Dark horse for me would be PWill. I’ve heard CHI is interested in trading him. I can see him being Lauri-esque in that he could develop really quickly after leaving CHI. He has shot the ball well, apart from this year, and reminds me of Johnson some too. The kicker is he’d probably be cheaper to get and is like 5 years younger than Johnson. The long contract isn’t off putting for me because MEM doesn’t usually draw many FAs in anyways. Only thing with his longer contract is figuring out how that affects paying JJJ (if it does at all).
I’ve seen dozens of creative and reasonable trades for Cam Johnson over the last month and the Nets don’t want to do any of them? The only reason they likely won’t trade him would be because they think they can get a better deal in the offseason, but that’s not guaranteed.
cresstheory, IMO, you’re right to question the assumption that Johnson would return as much this summer as now.
He’s having his best season by far at 19 ppg, but at 29 yrs old other teams will be much more likely to view that in the context of his entire career, where he’s averaged only 12 ppg. Last season (2023-24), he averaged 13 ppg.
That player profile doesn’t get you anything close to 2 FRP’s, which is supposedly the Nets’ current asking price. On a winning team, he’s a 3rd wing.
Nets lack a plan. These trash teams always play hard to get when it comes to trading their players who are good but not stars.